Odyssey. Part I The Adventures of Odysseus. from the. Homer. translated by Robert Fitzgerald ANCHOR TEXT EPIC POEM

Transcription

1 ANCHOR TEXT EPIC POEM from the Odyssey Homer translated by Robert Fitzgerald Part I The Adventures of Odysseus

2 CHARACTERS Alcinous (al SIHN oh uhs) king of the Phaeacians, to whom Odysseus tells his story Odysseus (oh dihs ee uhs) king of Ithaca Calypso (kuh LIHP soh) sea goddess who loves Odysseus Circe (SUR see) enchantress who helps Odysseus Zeus (zoos) king of the gods Apollo (uh POL oh) god of music, poetry, prophecy, and medicine Agamemnon (ag uh MEHM non) king and leader of Greek forces Poseidon (poh SY duhn) god of sea, earthquakes, horses, and storms at sea Athena (uh THEE nuh) goddess of wisdom, skills, and warfare Polyphemus (pol ih FEE muhs) the Cyclops who imprisons Odysseus Laertes (lay ur teez) Odysseus father Cronus (KROH nuhs) Titan ruler of the universe; father of Zeus Perimedes (pehr uh MEE deez) member of Odysseus crew Eurylochus (yoo RIHL uh kuhs) another member of the crew Tiresias (ty REE see uhs) blind prophet who advises Odysseus Persephone (puhr SEHF uh nee) wife of Hades Telemachus (tuh LEHM uh kuhs) Odysseus and Penelope s son Sirens (SY ruhnz) creatures whose songs lure sailors to their deaths Scylla (SIHL uh) sea monster of gray rock Charybdis (kuh RIHB dihs) enormous and dangerous whirlpool Lampetia (lahm PEE shuh) nymph Hermes (HUR meez) herald and messenger of the gods Eumaeus (yoo MEE uhs) old swineherd and friend of Odysseus Antinous (ant IHN oh uhs) leader among the suitors Eurynome (yoo RIHN uh mee) housekeeper for Penelope Penelope (puh NEHL uh pee) Odysseus wife Eurymachus (yoo RIH muh kuhs) suitor Amphinomus (am FIHN uh muhs) suitor SCAN FOR MULTIMEDIA 5 10 In the opening verses, Homer addresses the muse of epic poetry. He asks her help in telling the tale of Odysseus. Sing in me, Muse, 1 and through me tell the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending, the wanderer, harried for years on end, after he plundered the stronghold on the proud height of Troy. 2 He saw the townlands and learned the minds of many distant men, and weathered many bitter nights and days in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only to save his life, to bring his shipmates home. But not by will nor valor could he save them. for their own recklessness destroyed them all NOTES 1. Muse (myooz) any one of the nine goddesses of the arts. plundered (PLUHN duhrd) v. took something by force 2. Troy city in northwest Asia Minor; site of the Trojan War. from the Odyssey, Part 1 561

3 NOTES 3. Helios (HEE lee ohs) sun god. 4. Zeus (zoos) king of the gods. 15 children and fools, they killed and feasted on the cattle of Lord Helios, 3 the Sun, and he who moves all day through heaven took from their eyes the dawn of their return. Of these adventures, Muse, daughter of Zeus, 4 tell us in our time, lift the great song again. Sailing From Troy Ten years after the Trojan War, Odysseus departs from the goddess Calypso s island. He arrives in Phaeacia, ruled by Alcinous. Alcinous offers a ship to Odysseus and asks him to tell of his adventures. 5. Laertes (LAY ur teez) 6. guile (gyl) n. craftiness; cunning. 20 I am Laertes 5 son, Odysseus. Men hold me formidable for guile 6 in peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the sky s rim. 7. Ithaca (IHTH uh kuh) island off the west coast of Greece. 8. Calypso (kuh LIHP soh) sea goddess who loved Odysseus Circe (SUR see) of Aeaea (EE ee uh) 10. Ilium (IHL ee uhm) Troy. 11. Cicones (sih KOH neez) My home is on the peaked sea-mark of Ithaca 7 under Mount Neion s wind-blown robe of leaves, in sight of other islands Dulichium, Same, wooded Zacynthus Ithaca being most lofty in that coastal sea, and northwest, while the rest lie east and south. A rocky isle, but good for a boy s training; I shall not see on earth a place more dear, though I have been detained long by Calypso, 8 loveliest among goddesses, who held me in her smooth caves to be her heart s delight, as Circe of Aeaea, 9 the enchantress, desired me, and detained me in her hall. But in my heart I never gave consent. Where shall a man find sweetness to surpass his own home and his parents? In far lands he shall not, though he find a house of gold. What of my sailing, then, from Troy? What of those years of rough adventure, weathered under Zeus? The wind that carried west from Ilium 10 brought me to Ismarus, on the far shore, a strongpoint on the coast of Cicones. 11 I stormed that place and killed the men who fought. Plunder we took, and we enslaved the women, to make division, equal shares to all but on the spot I told them: Back, and quickly! 562 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

4 Out to sea again! My men were mutinous, 12 fools, on stores of wine. Sheep after sheep they butchered by the surf, and shambling cattle, feasting, while fugitives went inland, running to call to arms the main force of Cicones. This was an army, trained to fight on horseback or, where the ground required, on foot. They came with dawn over that terrain like the leaves and blades of spring. So doom appeared to us, dark word of Zeus for us, our evil days. My men stood up and made a fight of it backed on the ships, with lances kept in play, from bright morning through the blaze of noon holding our beach, although so far outnumbered; but when the sun passed toward unyoking time, then the Achaeans, 13 one by one, gave way. Six benches were left empty in every ship that evening when we pulled away from death. And this new grief we bore with us to sea: our precious lives we had, but not our friends. No ship made sail next day until some shipmate had raised a cry, three times, for each poor ghost unfleshed by the Cicones on that field. NOTES 12. mutinous (MYOO tuh nuhs) adj. rebellious. fugitives (FYOO juh tihvz) n. group of persons who have run away from danger CLOSE READ ANNOTATE: In lines 53 57, mark the words Odysseus uses to describe the enemy army. QUESTION: What is he expressing about what he and his men felt? CONCLUDE: How threatening did the enemy appear to Odysseus? 13. Achaeans (uh KEE uhnz) Greeks; here, Odysseus men. The Lotus-Eaters Now Zeus the lord of cloud roused in the north a storm against the ships, and driving veils of squall moved down like night on land and sea. The bows went plunging at the gust; sails cracked and lashed out strips in the big wind. We saw death in that fury, dropped the yards, unshipped the oars, and pulled for the nearest lee: 14 then two long days and nights we lay offshore worn out and sick at heart, tasting our grief, until a third Dawn came with ringlets shining. Then we put up our masts, hauled sail, and rested, letting the steersmen and the breeze take over. I might have made it safely home, that time, but as I came round Malea the current took me out to sea, and from the north a fresh gale drove me on, past Cythera. Nine days I drifted on the teeming sea before dangerous high winds. Upon the tenth we came to the coastline of the Lotus-Eaters, who live upon that flower. We landed there to take on water. All ships companies 14. lee n. area sheltered from the wind. from the Odyssey, Part 1 563

5 NOTES mustered alongside for the mid-day meal. Then I sent out two picked men and a runner to learn what race of men that land sustained. They fell in, soon enough, with Lotus-Eaters, who showed no will to do us harm, only offering the sweet Lotus to our friends but those who ate this honeyed plant, the Lotus, never cared to report, nor to return: they longed to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland. I drove them, all three wailing, to the ships, tied them down under their rowing benches, and called the rest: All hands aboard; come, clear the beach and no one taste the Lotus, or you lose your hope of home. Filing in to their places by the rowlocks my oarsmen dipped their long oars in the surf, and we moved out again on our sea faring. The Cyclops 15. Cyclopes (SY kloh peez) n. plural form of Cyclops (SY klops), race of giants with one eye in the middle of the forehead In the next land we found were Cyclopes, 15 giants, louts, without a law to bless them. In ignorance leaving the fruitage of the earth in mystery to the immortal gods, they neither plow nor sow by hand, nor till the ground, though grain wild wheat and barley grows untended, and wine-grapes, in clusters, ripen in heaven s rains. Cyclopes have no muster and no meeting, no consultation or old tribal ways, but each one dwells in his own mountain cave dealing out rough justice to wife and child, indifferent to what the others do prodigious (proh DIHJ uhs) adj. enormous As we rowed on, and nearer to the mainland, at one end of the bay, we saw a cavern yawning above the water, screened with laurel, and many rams and goats about the place inside a sheepfold made from slabs of stone earthfast between tall trunks of pine and rugged towering oak trees. A prodigious 16 man slept in this cave alone, and took his flocks to graze afield remote from all companions, knowing none but savage ways, a brute so huge, he seemed no man at all of those 564 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

6 who eat good wheaten bread; but he seemed rather a shaggy mountain reared in solitude. We beached there, and I told the crew to stand by and keep watch over the ship: as for myself I took my twelve best fighters and went ahead. I had a goatskin full of that sweet liquor that Euanthes son, Maron, had given me. He kept Apollo s 17 holy grove at Ismarus; for kindness we showed him there, and showed his wife and child, he gave me seven shining golden talents 18 perfectly formed, a solid silver winebowl, and then this liquor twelve two-handled jars of brandy, pure and fiery. Not a slave in Maron s household knew this drink; only he, his wife, and the storeroom mistress knew; and they would put one cupful ruby-colored, honey-smooth in twenty more of water, but still the sweet scent hovered like a fume over the winebowl. No man turned away when cups of this came round. NOTES 17. Apollo (uh POL oh) god of music, poetry, prophecy, and medicine. 18. talents units of money in ancient Greece. 155 A wineskin full I brought along, and victuals 19 in a bag, for in my bones I knew some towering brute would be upon us soon all outward power, a wild man, ignorant of civility. 19. victuals (viht uhlz) n. food or other provisions We climbed, then, briskly to the cave. But Cyclops had gone afield, to pasture his fat sheep, so we looked round at everything inside: a drying rack that sagged with cheeses, pens crowded with lambs and kids, 20 each in its class: firstlings apart from middlings, and the dewdrops, or newborn lambkins, penned apart from both. And vessels full of whey 21 were brimming there bowls of earthenware and pails for milking. My men came pressing round me, pleading: Why not take these cheeses, get them stowed, come back, throw open all the pens, and make a run for it? We ll drive the kids and lambs aboard. We say put out again on good salt water! 20. kids young goats. 21. whey (hway) n. thin, watery part of milk separated from the thicker curds. Ah, how sound that was! Yet I refused. I wished to see the cave man, what he had to offer from the Odyssey, Part 1 565

7 NOTES 22. boughs (bowz) n. tree branches. CLOSE READ ANNOTATE: In lines , mark the verb Odysseus uses to tell how he and his men moved away from Cyclops. QUESTION: What kind of creature does that verb evoke? CONCLUDE: What comparison does it suggest between Cyclops and Odysseus and his men? 23. withy (WIHTH ee) adj. made from tough, flexible twigs no pretty sight, it turned out, for my friends. We lit a fire, burnt an offering, and took some cheese to eat; then sat in silence around the embers, waiting. When he came he had a load of dry boughs 22 on his shoulder to stoke his fire at suppertime. He dumped it with a great crash into that hollow cave, and we all scattered fast to the far wall. Then over the broad cavern floor he ushered the ewes he meant to milk. He left his rams and he-goats in the yard outside, and swung high overhead a slab of solid rock to close the cave. Two dozen four-wheeled wagons, with heaving wagon teams, could not have stirred the tonnage of that rock from where he wedged it over the doorsill. Next he took his seat and milked his bleating ewes. A practiced job he made of it, giving each ewe her suckling; thickened his milk, then, into curds and whey, sieved out the curds to drip in withy 23 baskets, and poured the whey to stand in bowls cooling until he drank it for his supper. When all these chores were done, he poked the fire, heaping on brushwood. In the glare he saw us. 200 Strangers, he said, who are you? And where from? What brings you here by seaways a fair traffic? Or are you wandering rogues, who cast your lives like dice, and ravage other folk by sea? 24. Agamemnon (ag uh MEHM non) king who led the Greek army during the Trojan War. avenge (uh VEHNJ) v. to get revenge We felt a pressure on our hearts, in dread of that deep rumble and that mighty man. But all the same I spoke up in reply: We are from Troy, Achaeans, blown off course by shifting gales on the Great South Sea; homeward bound, but taking routes and ways uncommon: so the will of Zeus would have it. We served under Agamemnon, 24 son of Atreus the whole world knows what city he laid waste, what armies he destroyed. It was our luck to come here; here we stand, beholden for your help, or any gifts you give as custom is to honor strangers. We would entreat you, great Sir, have a care for the gods courtesy; Zeus will avenge the unoffending guest. 566 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

8 NOTES The Cyclops Polyphemus returns to his cave, where Odysseus and his men are imprisoned. He answered this from his brute chest, unmoved: You are a ninny, or else you come from the other end of nowhere, telling me, mind the gods! We Cyclopes care not a whistle for your thundering Zeus or all the gods in bliss; we have more force by far. I would not let you go for fear of Zeus you or your friends unless I had a whim 25 to. Tell me, where was it, now, you left your ship around the point, or down the shore, I wonder? He thought he d find out, but I saw through this, And answered with a ready lie: My ship? Poseidon 26 Lord, who sets the earth a-tremble, broke it up on the rocks at your land s end. A wind from seaward served him, drove us there. We are survivors, these good men and I. 25. whim n. sudden thought or wish to do something. 26. Poseidon (poh SY duhn) god of the sea, earthquakes, horses, and storms at sea. from the Odyssey, Part 1 567

9 NOTES Neither reply nor pity came from him, but in one stride he clutched at my companions and caught two in his hands like squirming puppies to beat their brain out, spattering the floor. Then he dismembered them and made his meal, gaping and crunching like a mountain lion everything: innards, flesh, and marrow bones. We cried aloud, lifting our hands to Zeus, powerless, looking on at this, appalled; but Cyclops went on filling up his belly with manflesh and great gulps of whey, then lay down like a mast among his sheep. My heart beat high now at the chance of action, and drawing the sharp sword from my hip I went along his flank to stab him where the midriff holds the liver. I had touched the spot when sudden fear stayed me: if I killed him we perished there as well, for we could never move his ponderous doorway slab aside. So we were left to groan and wait for morning. dispatched (dihs PACHT) v. finished something quickly 27. brace n. pair. 28. cap a quiver (KWIHV uhr) close a case holding arrows. 29. din n. loud, continuous noise; uproar Athena (uh THEE nuh) goddess of wisdom, skills, and warfare felled green and left to season chopped down and exposed to the weather to age the wood. 32. lugger n. small sailing vessel When the young Dawn with fingertips of rose lit up the world, the Cyclops built a fire and milked his handsome ewes, all in due order, putting the sucklings to the mothers. Then, his chores being all dispatched, he caught another brace 27 of men to make his breakfast, and whisked away his great door slab to let his sheep go through but he, behind, reset the stone as one would cap a quiver. 28 There was a din 29 of whistling as the Cyclops rounded his flock to higher ground, then stillness. And now I pondered how to hurt him worst, if but Athena 30 granted what I prayed for. Here are the means I thought would serve my turn: a club, or staff, lay there along the fold an olive tree, felled green and left to season 31 for Cyclops hand. And it was like a mast a lugger 32 of twenty oars, broad in the beam a deep-sea-going craft- might carry: so long, so big around, it seemed. Now I chopped out a six foot section of this pole and set it down before my men, who scraped it; and when they had it smooth, I hewed again to make a stake with pointed end. I held this in the fire s heart and turned it, toughening it, 568 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

10 280 then hid it, well back in the cavern, under one of the dung piles in profusion there. Now came the time to toss for it: who ventured along with me? whose hand could bear to thrust and grind that spike in Cyclops eye, when mild sleep had mastered him? As luck would have it, the men I would have chosen won the toss four strong men, and I made five as captain. NOTES ventured (VEHN chuhrd) v. tried something dangerous At evening came the shepherd with his flock, his woolly flock. The rams as well, this time, entered the cave: by some sheepherding whim or a god s bidding none were left outside. He hefted his great boulder into place and sat him down to milk the bleating ewes in proper order, put the lambs to suck, and swiftly ran through all his evening chores. Then he caught two more men and feasted on them. My moment was at hand, and I went forward holding an ivy bowl of my dark drink, looking up, saying: 300 Cyclops, try some wine. Here s liquor to wash down your scraps of men. Taste it, and see the kind of drink we carried under our planks. I meant it for an offering if you would help us home. But you are mad, unbearable, a bloody monster! After this, will any other traveler come to see you? He seized and drained the bowl, and it went down so fiery and smooth he called for more: Give me another, thank you kindly. Tell me, how are you called? I ll make a gift will please you. Even Cyclopes know the wine grapes grow out of grassland and loam in heaven s rain, but here s a bit of nectar and ambrosia! 33 Three bowls I brought him, and he poured them down. I saw the fuddle and flush come over him, then I sang out in cordial tones: Cyclops, you ask my honorable name? Remember the gift you promised me, and I shall tell you. My name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbdy. 33. nectar (NEHK tuhr) and ambrosia (am BROH zhuh) drink and food of the gods. from the Odyssey, Part 1 569

11 NOTES And he said: Nohbdy s my meat, then, after I eat his friends. Others come first. There s a noble gift, now. 320 Even as he spoke, he reeled and tumbled backward, his great head lolling to one side; and sleep took him like any creature. Drunk, hiccuping, he dribbled streams of liquor and bits of men. 34. bored v. made a hole in Now, by the gods, I drove my big hand spike deep in the embers, charring it again, and cheered my men along with battle talk to keep their courage up: no quitting now. The pike of olive, green though it had been, reddened and glowed as if about to catch. I drew it from the coals and my four fellows gave me a hand, lugging it near the Cyclops as more than natural force nerved them; straight forward they sprinted, lifted it, and rammed it deep in his crater eye, and leaned on it turning it as a shipwright tums a drill in planking, having men below to swing the two-handled strap that spins it in the groove. So with our brand we bored 34 that great eye socket while blood ran out around the red-hot bar. Eyelid and lash were seared; the pierced ball hissed broiling, and the roots popped. 35. divers adj. several; various. 36. Polyphemus (pol ih FEE muhs) In a smithy one sees a white-hot axehead or an adze plunged and wrung in a cold tub, screeching steam the way they make soft iron hale and hard : just so that eyeball hissed around the spike. The Cyclops bellowed and the rock roared round him, and we fell back in fear. Clawing his face he tugged the bloody spike out of his eye, threw it away, and his wild hands went groping: then he set up a howl for Cyclopes who lived in caves on windy peaks nearby. Some heard him; and they came by divers 35 ways to clump around outside and call: What ails you, Polyphemus? 36 Why do you cry so sore in the starry night? You will not let us sleep. Sure no man s driving off your flock? No man has tricked you, ruined you? 570 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

12 Out of the cave the mammoth Polyphemus roared in answer: NOTES Nohbdy, Nohbdy s tricked me, Nohbdy s ruined me! To this rough shout they made a sage 37 reply: 37. sage adj. wise Ah well, if nobody has played you foul there in your lonely bed, we are no use in pain given by great Zeus. Let it be your father, Poseidon Lord, to whom you pray. So saying they trailed away. And I was filled with laughter to see how like a charm the name deceived them. Now Cyclops, wheezing as the pain came on him, fumbled to wrench away the great doorstone and squatted in the breach with arms thrown wide for any silly beast or man who bolted hoping somehow I might be such a fool. But I kept thinking how to win the game: death sat there huge; how could we slip away? I drew on all my wits, and ran through tactics, reasoning as a man will for dear life, until a trick came and it pleased me well. The Cyclops rams were handsome, fat, with heavy fleeces, a dark violet. CLOSE READ ANNOTATE: Mark the verbs Odysseus uses to describe the actions of Cyclops in the sentence beginning on line 366. QUESTION: What do these verbs suggest about Cyclops condition? CONCLUDE: What does this reveal about Cyclops pain, anger, and remaining strength? tactics (TAK tihks) n. military procedures 380 Three abreast I tied them silently together, twining cords of willow from the ogre s bed; then slung a man under each middle one to ride there safely, shielded left and right So three sheep could convey each man. I took the woolliest ram, the choicest of the flock, and hung myself under his kinky belly, pulled up tight, with fingers twisted deep in sheepskin ringlets for an iron grip. So, breathing hard, we waited until morning. When Dawn spread out her fingertips of rose the rams began to stir, moving for pasture, and peals of bleating echoed round the pens where dams with udders full called for a milking. Blinded, and sick with pain from his head wound, the master stroked each ram, then let it pass, but my men riding on the pectoral 38 fleece the giant s blind hands blundering never found. 38. pectoral (PEHK tuh ruhl) adj. located in or on the chest. from the Odyssey, Part 1 571

13 The Cyclops fails to notice the men hidden under the ram. 572 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

14 Last of them all my ram, the leader, came, weighted by wool and me with my meditations. The Cyclops patted him, and then he said: NOTES Sweet cousin ram, why lag behind the rest in the night cave? You never linger so, but graze before them all, and go afar to crop sweet grass, and take your stately way leading along the streams, until at evening you run to be the first one in the fold. Why, now, so far behind? Can you be grieving over your Master s eye? That carrion rogue 39 and his accurst companions burnt it out when he had conquered all my wits with wine. Nohbdy will not get out alive, I swear. Oh, had you brain and voice to tell where he may be now, dodging all my fury! Bashed by this hand and bashed on this rock wall his brains would strew the floor, and I should have rest from the outrage Nohbdy worked upon me. 39. carrion (KAR ee uhn) rogue (rohg) repulsive scoundrel He sent us into the open, then. Close by, I dropped and rolled clear of the ram s belly, going this way and that to untie the men. With many glances back, we rounded up his fat, stiff-legged sheep to take aboard, and drove them down to where the good ship lay We saw, as we came near, our fellows faces shining; then we saw them turn to grief tallying those who had not fled from death. I hushed them, jerking head and eyebrows up, and in a low voice told them: Load this herd: move fast, and put the ship s head toward the breakers. They all pitched in at loading, then embarked and struck their oars into the sea. Far out, as far off shore as shouted words would carry, I sent a few back to the adversary: O Cyclops! Would you feast on my companions? Puny, am I, in a cave man s hands? How do you like the beating that we gave you, you damned cannibal? Eater of guests under your roof! Zeus and the gods have paid you! The blind thing in his doubled fury broke a hilltop in his hands and heaved it after us. Ahead of our black prow it struck and sank whelmed in a spuming geyser, a giant wave from the Odyssey, Part 1 573

15 NOTES that washed the ship stern foremost back to shore. I got the longest boathook out and stood fending us off, with furious nods to all to put their backs into a racing stroke row, row, or perish. So the long oars bent kicking the foam sternward, making head until we drew away, and twice as far. Now when I cupped my hands I heard the crew in low voices protesting: Godsake, Captain! Why bait the beast again? Let him alone! CLOSE READ ANNOTATE: Mark the punctuation in lines That tidal wave he made on the first throw all but beached us. QUESTION: What does this punctuation indicate? CONCLUDE: What does the poet accomplish by letting the reader hear the crew s own voices for the first time? 455 All but stove us in! Give him our bearing with your trumpeting, he ll get the range and lob a boulder. Aye He ll smash our timbers and our heads together! I would not heed them in my glorying spirit, but let my anger flare and yelled: 460 Cyclops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes son, whose home s on Ithaca! 40. weird n. fate or destiny. 41. Telemus (tehl EH muhs) 42. Eurymus (yoo RIHM uhs) 43. god of earthquake Poseidon At this he gave a mighty sob and rumbled: Now comes the weird 40 upon me, spoken of old. A wizard, grand and wondrous, lived here Telemus, 41 a son of Eurymus; 42 great length of days he had in wizardry among the Cyclopes, and these things he foretold for time to come: my great eye lost, and at Odysseus hands. Always I had in mind some giant, armed in giant force, would come against me here. But this, but you small, pitiful, and twiggy you put me down with wine, you blinded me. Come back, Odysseus, and I ll treat you well, praying the god of earthquake 43 to befriend you his son I am, for he by his avowal fathered me, and, if he will, he may heal me of this black wound he and no other of all the happy gods or mortal men. 574 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

16 Few words I shouted in reply to him: NOTES 480 If I could take your life I would and take your time away, and hurl you down to hell! The god of earthquake could not heal you there! At this he stretched his hands out in his darkness toward the sky of stars, and prayed Poseidon: O hear me, lord, blue girdler of the islands, if I am thine indeed, and thou art father: grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, never see his home: Laertes son, I mean, who kept his hall on Ithaca. Should destiny intend that he shall see his roof again among his family in his father land, far be that day, and dark the years between Let him lose all companions, and return under strange sail to bitter days at home. In these words he prayed, and the god heard him. Now he laid hands upon a bigger stone and wheeled around, titanic for the cast, to let it fly in the black-prowed vessel s track. But it fell short, just aft the steering oar, and whelming seas rose giant above the stone to bear us onward toward the island There as we ran in we saw the squadron waiting, The trim ships drawn up side by side, and all our troubled friends who waited, looking seaward. We beached her, grinding keel in the soft sand, and waded in, ourselves, on the sandy beach. Then we unloaded all the Cyclops flock to make division, share and share alike, only my fighters voted that my ram, the prize of all, should go to me. I slew him by the seaside and burnt his long thighbones to Zeus beyond the storm cloud, Cronus 44 son, who rules the world. But Zeus disdained my offering; destruction for my ships he had in store and death for those who sailed them, my companions. Now all day long until the sun went down we made our feast on mutton and sweet wine, till after sunset in the gathering dark we went to sleep above the wash of ripples. 44. Cronus (KROH nuhs) Titan who was ruler of the universe until he was overthrown by his son Zeus. from the Odyssey, Part 1 575

17 NOTES offing n. distant part of the sea visible from the shore. 525 When the young Dawn with fingertips of rose touched the world, I roused the men, gave orders to man the ships, cast off the mooring lines; and filing in to sit beside the rowlocks oarsmen in line dipped oars in the gray sea. So we moved out, sad in the vast offing, 45 having our precious lives, but not our friends. The Land of the Dead 46. Aeolia (ee OH lee uh)... Aeolus (EE uh luhs) 47. Laestrygonians (lehs trih GOH nee uhnz) Odysseus and his men sail to Aeolia, where Aeolus, 46 king of the winds, sends Odysseus on his way with a gift: a sack containing all the winds except the favorable west wind. When they are near home, Odysseus men open the sack, letting loose a storm that drives them back to Aeolia. Aeolus casts them out, having decided that they are detested by the gods. They sail for seven days and arrive in the land of the Laestrygonians, 47 a race of cannibals. These creatures destroy all of Odysseus ships except the one he is sailing in. Odysseus and his reduced crew escape and reach Aeaea, the island ruled by the sorceress-goddess Circe. She transforms half of the men into swine. Protected by a magic herb, Odysseus demands that Circe change his men back into human form. Before Odysseus departs from the island a year later, Circe informs him that in order to reach home he must journey to the land of the dead, Hades, and consult the blind prophet Tiresias. 48. singing nymph... hair Circe We bore down on the ship at the sea s edge and launched her on the salt immortal sea, stepping our mast and spar in the black ship; embarked the ram and ewe and went aboard in tears, with bitter and sore dread upon us. But now a breeze came up for us astern a canvas-bellying landbreeze, hale shipmate sent by the singing nymph with sunbright hair; 48 so we made fast the braces, took our thwarts, and let the wind and steersman work the ship with full sail spread all day above our coursing, till the sun dipped, and all the ways grew dark upon the fathomless unresting sea. By night our ship ran onward toward the Ocean s bourne, the realm and region of the Men of Winter, hidden in mist and cloud. Never the flaming eye of Helios lights on those men 576 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

18 at morning, when he climbs the sky of stars, nor in descending earthward out of heaven; ruinous night being rove over those wretches. We made the land, put ram and ewe ashore, and took our way along the Ocean stream to find the place foretold for us by Circe. There Perimedes and Eurylochus 49 pinioned 50 the sacred beasts. With my drawn blade I spaded up the votive 51 pit, and poured libations 52 round it to the unnumbered dead: sweet milk and honey, then sweet wine, and last clear water; and I scattered barley down. Then I addressed the blurred and breathless dead, vowing to slaughter my best heifer for them before she calved, at home in Ithaca, and burn the choice bits on the altar fire; as for Tiresias, 53 I swore to sacrifice a black lamb, handsomest of all our flock. Thus to assuage the nations of the dead I pledged these rites, then slashed the lamb and ewe, letting their black blood stream into the wellpit. Now the souls gathered, stirring out of Erebus, 54 brides and young men, and men grown old in pain, and tender girls whose hearts were new to grief; many were there, too, torn by brazen lanceheads, battle-slain, bearing still their bloody gear. From every side they came and sought the pit with rustling cries; and I grew sick with fear. But presently I gave command to my officers to flay those sheep the bronze cut down, and make burnt offerings of flesh to the gods below to sovereign Death, to pale Persephone. 55 Meanwhile I crouched with my drawn sword to keep the surging phantoms from the bloody pit till I should know the presence of Tiresias. One shade came first Elpenor, of our company, who lay unburied still on the wide earth as we had left him dead in Circe s hall, untouched, unmourned, when other cares compelled us. Now when I saw him there I wept for pity and called out to him: How is this, Elpenor, how could you journey to the western gloom swifter afoot than I in the black lugger? He sighed, and answered: NOTES 49. Perimedes (pehr uh MEE deez) and Eurylochus (yoo RIHL uh kuhs) 50. pinioned (PIHN yuhnd) v. confined or shackled. 51. votive (VOHT ihv) adj. done to fulfill a vow or express thanks. 52. libations (ly BAY shuhnz) n. wine or other liquids poured upon the ground as a sacrifice or offering. 53. Tiresias (ty REE see uhs) 54. Erebus (EHR uh buhs) dark region under the earth through which the dead pass before entering realm of Hades. 55. Persephone (puhr SEHF uh nee) from the Odyssey, Part 1 577

19 NOTES 56. Telemachus (tuh LEHM uh kuhs) Son of great Laertes, Odysseus, master mariner and soldier, bad luck shadowed me, and no kindly power; ignoble death I drank with so much wine. I slept on Circe s roof, then could not see the long steep backward ladder, coming down, and fell that height. My neckbone, buckled under, snapped, and my spirit found this well of dark. Now hear the grace I pray for, in the name of those back in the world, not here your wife and father, he who gave you bread in childhood, and your own child, your only son, Telemachus, 56 long ago left at home. 57. cairn (kairn) n. conical heap of stones built as a monument When you make sail and put these lodgings of dim Death behind, you will moor ship, I know, upon Aeaea Island; there, O my lord, remember me, I pray, do not abandon me unwept, unburied, to tempt the gods wrath, while you sail for home; but fire my corpse, and all the gear I had, and build a cairn 57 for me above the breakers an unknown sailor s mark for men to come. Heap up the mound there, and implant upon it the oar I pulled in life with my companions. He ceased and I replied: 610 Unhappy spirit, I promise you the barrow and the burial. 58. Autolycus (aw TOL ih kuhs) 59. Thebes (theebz) So we conversed, and grimly, at a distance, with my long sword between, guarding the blood, while the faint image of the lad spoke on. Now came the soul of Anticlea, dead, my mother, daughter of Autolycus, 58 dead now, though living still when I took ship for holy Troy. Seeing this ghost I grieved, but held her off, through pang on pang of tears, till I should know the presence of Tiresias. Soon from the dark that prince of Thebes 59 came forward bearing a golden staff; and he addressed me: Son of Laertes and the gods of old, Odysseus, master of landways and seaways, why leave the blazing sun, O man of woe, to see the cold dead and the joyless region? Stand clear, put up your sword; let me but taste of blood, I shall speak true. 578 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

20 At this I stepped aside, and in the scabbard let my long sword ring home to the pommel silver, as he bent down to the somber blood. Then spoke the prince of those with gift of speech: Great captain, a fair wind and the honey lights of home are all you seek. But anguish lies ahead; the god who thunders on the land prepares it, not to be shaken from your track, implacable, in rancor for the son whose eye you blinded. One narrow strait may take you through his blows: denial of yourself, restraint of shipmates. When you make landfall on Thrinacia first and quit the violet sea, dark on the land you ll find the grazing herds of Helios by whom all things are seen, all speech is known. Avoid those kine, 60 hold fast to your intent, and hard seafaring brings you all to Ithaca. But if you raid the beeves, I see destruction for ship and crew. Though you survive alone, bereft of all companions, lost for years, under strange sail shall you come home, to find your own house filled with trouble: insolent men eating your livestock as they court your lady. Aye, you shall make those men atone in blood! But after you have dealt out death in open combat or by stealth to all the suitors, go overland on foot, and take an oar, until one day you come where men have lived with meat unsalted, never known the sea, nor seen seagoing ships, with crimson bows and oars that fledge light hulls for dipping flight. The spot will soon be plain to you, and I can tell you how: some passerby will say, What winnowing fan is that upon your shoulder? Halt, and implant your smooth oar in the turf and make fair sacrifice to Lord Poseidon: a ram, a bull, a great buck boar; turn back, and carry out pure hecatombs 61 at home to all wide heaven s lords, the undying gods, to each in order. Then a seaborne death soft as this hand of mist will come upon you when you are wearied out with rich old age, your country folk in blessed peace around you. And all this shall be just as I foretell. NOTES CLOSE READ ANNOTATE: In lines , mark the words that describe Odysseus home and the words that describe what is in his future. QUESTION: What do these contrasting words express? CONCLUDE: What can you conclude about Odysseus goal and what will happen before he reaches it? 60. kine (kyn) n. cattle hecatombs (HEHK uh tohmz) n. large-scale sacrifices to the gods in ancient Greece; often, the slaughter of 100 cattle at one time. 670 from the Odyssey, Part 1 579

21 NOTES This nineteenth-century painting by John William Waterhouse shows the Sirens as bird-women, which echoes ancient Greek portrayals of these figures. The Sirens 62. Charybdis (kuh RIHB dihs) Odysseus returns to Circe s island. The goddess reveals his course to him and gives advice on how to avoid the dangers he will face: the Sirens, who lure sailors to their destruction; the Wandering Rocks, sea rocks that destroy even birds in flight: the perils of the sea monster Scylla and, nearby, the whirlpool Charybdis; 62 and the cattle of the sun god, which Tiresias has warned Odysseus not to harm As Circe spoke, Dawn mounted her golden throne, and on the first rays Circe left me, taking her way like a great goddess up the island. I made straight for the ship, roused up the men to get aboard and cast off at the stern. They scrambled to their places by the rowlocks and all in line dipped oars in the gray sea. But soon an offshore breeze blew to our liking a canvas-bellying breeze, a lusty shipmate sent by the singing nymph with sunbright hair. So we made fast the braces, and we rested, letting the wind and steersman work the ship. The crew being now silent before me, I addressed them, sore at heart: 580 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

22 NOTES Dear friends, more than one man, or two, should know those things Circe foresaw for us and shared with me, so let me tell her forecast: then we die with our eyes open, if we are going to die, or know what death we baffle if we can. Sirens weaving a haunting song over the sea we are to shun, she said, and their green shore all sweet with clover; yet she urged that I alone should listen to their song. Therefore you are to tie me up, tight as a splint, erect along the mast, lashed to the mast, and if I shout and beg to be untied, take more turns of the rope to muffle me. I rather dwelt on this part of the forecast, while our good ship made time, bound outward down the wind for the strange island of Sirens. Then all at once the wind fell, and a calm came over all the sea, as though some power lulled the swell. 705 The crew were on their feet briskly, to furl the sail, and stow it; then, from the Odyssey, Part 1 581

23 NOTES CLOSE READ ANNOTATE: In lines , mark the end words of the lines of several stanzas of the Sirens song. QUESTION: What do you notice about these words in relation to each other? CONCLUDE: How does this contribute to a sense of the Sirens music? each in place, they poised the smooth oar blades and sent the white foam scudding by. I carved a massive cake of beeswax into bits and rolled them in my hands until they softened no long task, for a burning heat came down from Helios, lord of high noon. Going forward I carried wax along the line, and laid it thick on their ears. They tied me up, then, plumb amidships, back to the mast, lashed to the mast, and took themselves again to rowing. Soon, as we came smartly within hailing distance, the two Sirens, noting our fast ship off their point, made ready, and they sang: This way, oh turn your bows, Achaea s glory, As all the world allows Moor and be merry. Sweet coupled airs we sing. No lonely seafarer Holds clear of entering Our green mirror. 730 Pleased by each purling note Like honey twining From her throat and my throat, Who lies a-pining? 735 Sea rovers here take joy Voyaging onward, As from our song of Troy Graybeard and rower-boy Goeth more learnèd. 63. Argos old soldiery soldiers from Argos, a city in ancient Greece. 740 All feats on that great field In the long warfare, Dark days the bright gods willed, Wounds you bore there, Argos old soldiery 63 On Troy beach teeming, Charmed out of time we see. No life on earth can be Hid from our dreaming. 745 The lovely voices in ardor appealing over the water made me crave to listen, and I tried to say Untie me! to the crew, jerking my brows; 582 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

24 750 but they bent steady to the oars. Then Perimedes got to his feet, he and Eurylochus, and passed more line about, to hold me still. So all rowed on, until the Sirens dropped under the sea rim, and their singing dwindled away. NOTES 755 My faithful company rested on their oars now, peeling off the wax that I had laid thick on their ears; then set me free. Scylla and Charybdis But scarcely had that island faded in blue air than I saw smoke and white water, with sound of waves in tumult a sound the men heard, and it terrified them. Oars flew from their hands; the blades went knocking wild alongside till the ship lost way, with no oar blades to drive her through the water. Well, I walked up and down from bow to stern, trying to put heart into them, standing over every oarsman, saying gently, 770 Friends, have we never been in danger before this? More fearsome, is it now, than when the Cyclops penned us in his cave? What power he had! Did I not keep my nerve, and use my wits to find a way out for us? Now I say by hook or crook this peril too shall be something that we remember. Heads up, lads! We must obey the orders as I give them. Get the oar shafts in your hands, and lay back hard on your benches; hit these breaking seas. Zeus help us pull away before we founder. You at the tiller, listen, and take in all that I say the rudders are your duty; keep her out of the combers and the smoke; 64 steer for that headland; watch the drift, or we fetch up in the smother, and you drown us. 64. the combers and the smoke large waves that break on the beach and the ocean spray. from the Odyssey, Part 1 583

25 An artist s rendering of the two terrors Charybdis (the whirlpool) and Scylla (the monster). NOTES 65. Scylla (SIHL uh) 66. cuirass (kwih RAS) n. armor for the upper body That was all, and it brought them round to action. But as I sent them on toward Scylla, 65 I told them nothing, as they could do nothing. They would have dropped their oars again, in panic, to roll for cover under the decking. Circe s bidding against arms had slipped my mind, so I tied on my cuirass 66 and took up two heavy spears, then made my way along to the foredeck thinking to see her first from there, the monster of the gray rock, harboring torment for my friends. I strained my eyes upon the cliffside veiled in cloud, but nowhere could I catch sight of her. 67. travail (truh VAYL) n. very hard work. 68. gorge (gawrj) n. throat or gullet maelstrom (MAYL struhm) n. large, violent whirlpool. 805 And all this time, in travail, 67 sobbing, gaining on the current, we rowed into the strait Scylla to port and on our starboard beam Charybdis, dire gorge 68 of the salt seatide. By heaven! when she vomited, all the sea was like a cauldron seething over intense fire, when the mixture suddenly heaves and rises. The shot spume soared to the landside heights, and fell like rain. But when she swallowed the sea water down we saw the funnel of the maelstrom, 69 heard the rock bellowing all around, and dark 584 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

26 sand raged on the bottom far below. My men all blanched against the gloom, our eyes were fixed upon that yawning mouth in fear of being devoured. NOTES Then Scylla made her strike, whisking six of my best men from the ship. I happened to glance aft at ship and oarsmen and caught sight of their arms and legs, dangling high overhead. Voices came down to me in anguish, calling my name for the last time. A man surfcasting on a point of rock for bass or mackerel, whipping his long rod to drop the sinker and the bait far out, will hook a fish and rip it from the surface to dangle wriggling through the air: so these were borne aloft in spasms toward the cliff. She ate them as they shrieked there, in her den, in the dire grapple, reaching still for me and deathly pity ran me through at that sight far the worst I ever suffered, questing the passes of the strange sea. CLOSE READ ANNOTATE: Mark the words in lines that describe a sports activity. QUESTION: Why does Homer liken this activity to Scylla s actions? CONCLUDE: What does this comparison suggest about Scylla s power? We rowed on. The Rocks were now behind; Charybdis, too, and Scylla dropped astern The Cattle of the Sun God In the small hours of the third watch, when stars that shone out in the first dusk of evening had gone down to their setting, a giant wind blew from heaven, and clouds driven by Zeus shrouded land and sea in a night of storm; so, just as Dawn with fingertips of rose touched the windy world, we dragged our ship to cover in a grotto, a sea cave where nymphs had chairs of rock and sanded floors. I mustered all the crew and said: 840 Old shipmates, our stores are in the ship s hold, food and drink; the cattle here are not for our provision, or we pay dearly for it. from the Odyssey, Part 1 585

27 NOTES Fierce the god is who cherishes these heifers and these sheep: Helios; and no man avoids his eye To this my fighters nodded. Yes. But now we had a month of onshore gales, blowing day in, day out south winds, or south by east. As long as bread and good red wine remained to keep the men up, and appease their craving, they would not touch the cattle. But in the end, when all the barley in the ship was gone, hunger drove them to scour the wild shore with angling hooks, for fishes and sea fowl, whatever fell into their hands; and lean days wore their bellies thin. 70. Olympus (oh LIHM puhs) Mount Olympus, home of the gods The storms continued. So one day I withdrew to the interior to pray the gods in solitude, for hope that one might show me some way of salvation. Slipping away, I struck across the island to a sheltered spot, out of the driving gale. I washed my hands there, and made supplication to the gods who own Olympus, 70 all the gods but they, for answer, only closed my eyes under slow drops of sleep. Now on the shore Eurylochus made his insidious plea: Comrades, he said, You ve gone through everything; listen to what I say. All deaths are hateful to us, mortal wretches, but famine is the most pitiful, the worst end that a man can come to. 71. Lord of Noon Helios Will you fight it? Come, we ll cut out the noblest of these cattle for sacrifice to the gods who own the sky; and once at home, in the old country of Ithaca, if ever that day comes we ll build a costly temple and adorn it with every beauty for the Lord of Noon. 71 But if he flares up over his heifers lost, wishing our ship destroyed, and if the gods make cause with him, why, then I say: Better open your lungs to a big sea once for all than waste to skin and bones on a lonely island! 586 UNIT 5 JOURNEYS OF TRANSFORMATION

28 Thus Eurylochus; and they murmured Aye! trooping away at once to round up heifers. Now, that day tranquil cattle with broad brows were grazing near, and soon the men drew up around their chosen beasts in ceremony. They plucked the leaves that shone on a tall oak having no barley meal to strew the victims, performed the prayers and ritual, knifed the kine and flayed each carcass, cutting thighbones free to wrap in double folds of fat. These offerings, with strips of meat, were laid upon the fire. Then, as they had no wine, they made libation with clear spring water, broiling the entrails first; and when the bones were burnt and tripes shared, they spitted the carved meat. Just then my slumber left me in a rush, my eyes opened, and I went down the seaward path. No sooner had I caught sight of our black hull, than savory odors of burnt fat eddied around me; grief took hold of me, and I cried aloud: NOTES O Father Zeus and gods in bliss forever, you made me sleep away this day of mischief! O cruel drowsing, in the evil hour! Here they sat, and a great work they contrived. 72 Lampetia 73 in her long gown meanwhile had borne swift word to the Overlord of Noon: They have killed your kine. And the Lord Helios burst into angry speech amid the immortals: 72. contrived v. thought up; devised. 73. Lampetia (lam PEE shuh) a nymph O Father Zeus and gods in bliss forever, punish Odysseus men! So overweening, now they have killed my peaceful kine, my joy at morning when I climbed the sky of stars, and evening, when I bore westward from heaven. Restitution or penalty they shall pay and pay in full or I go down forever to light the dead men in the underworld. Then Zeus who drives the stormcloud made reply: Peace, Helios: shine on among the gods, shine over mortals in the fields of grain. Let me throw down one white-hot bolt, and make splinters of their ship in the winedark sea. from the Odyssey, Part 1 587